Swivel electric connection.



W. SCHADE.

SWIVEL ELECTRIC CONNECTION.

APPLICATloN FILED FEB. 5. 1917.

II 24m 93 Patented Sept. 25, 1917.

ric.

WILFREID SCHADE, F ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

SWIVEL ELECTRIC CONNECTION.

Application led February 5, 1917.

' To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WJLFRED SCHADE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Swivel Electric Connections, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to devices for connecting flexible circuits leading to portable electric devices, such as drop lamps, telephone receivers and desk telephones, portable electric vacuum cleaners, and similar apparatus.

The object of the invention is to eliminate trouble and breakage caused by the flexible cord or wire circuit connections becoming snarled, twisted or kinked.

The invention consists in a swivel joint which is simple in construction, strong, compact, and which will turn freely and maintain a good electrical connection between the conductors to which it is secured.

The objects of the invention and what it consists in are further described hereinafter, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention in a preferred form. What is particularly claimed as the invention is set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings, wherein the same reference characters designate the same parts in the several views,

Figure 1 is a longitudinal cross-section of a swivel electric connection;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the same;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the inner end of one part of the swivel connection shown in Figs. l and 2;

Fig. 4 is a cross-section of one end of the device, on the line M in Fig. l; and

Fig. 5 is an edge view of a conductor ring forming part of the device.

The device shown in the drawings includes a body comprising two mating half portions l1, made of hard rubber or other insulating material, arranged end to end in axial alinement and connected by a central swivel pin 12 passing through them.- Each of the half portions 11 has an axial hole through it from end to end for the swivel pin, the outer ends of the holes being counterbored to provide space for the transverse pins 13 which secure the body portions inv Gaps are left in the walls of the place. counterbored portions through which to insert and remove the pins.

Specication of Letters'latent.

Patented Sept. 25, i917.

Serial No. 146,575.

The inner ends of the half portions of the body abut and are provided with mating annular flanges and grooves concentric with the axis of the device. One half portion has an outer flange 14 on its inner end which projects into a groove in the inner end of the other half portion, and the other half portion has an inner flange 15 on its inner end which projects into a groove in the end of the first one. The flanges iit loosely in their grooves, and are somewhat shorter than the depth 'of the groove so as to leave an annular space between the end lof each flange and the bottom of its groove in the other half portion.

Two annular contact rings 16 are arranged in the outer groove, each of which rings has a conductor 17 soldered or otherwise secured to its inner side and extending through the body to its outer end. The rings are made of l spring metal,v and have portions which are bent out of the general plane, as shown in Fig. 5. Two similar but smaller contact rings 18 are arranged in the inner groove,

each of which smaller rings likewise has a.

conductor 19 secured to its inner side and extending through the body to its outer end, the conductors 19 being arranged on opposite sides of the axis from the conductors 17.

The outer ends of the conductors project through the ends of the body and are secured by screw 20. The outer ends of the body are reduced in size and screw threaded for the caps 21, which cover the ends of the conductors 17 and 19 and screws 20. The screws 20 Oalso, securevthe ends of the iexil ble cords 22 to the respective conductors. The flexible cords pass through holes in the caps 21, and lead to the source of current and to the portable electric apparatus, respectively.

The invention is not restricted to the par ticular device shown in the drawings, as it is evident that modifications can be made to suit the conditions of use.

I claim the following as my invention:

l. A swivel electric connection comprising a body consisting fof two mating half portions arranged end to end in axial alinement, said body being composed of insulating material, and the abutting ends of said body portions having a mating groove and flange concentric with the axis of the body, a pair of contact rings in said groove, an electric conductor extending through each half portion of said body and connected to the adjacent contact ring at its inner end, means for holding the tWo body portions together for relative rotation around the axis of the body, and means for connecting electric circuit Wires to the outer ends of said electric conductors.

2. A swivel electric connection comprising a body consisting of tWo mating half portions arranged end to end in axial'alinement, said body being composed of insulating material, and each of the abutting ends of said body portions yhaving a mating groove and flange concentric with the axis of the body, a pair of contact rings in each of said grooves, a pair of electric conductors extending through each half portion of said body and connected one to each of the adjacent contact rings at'its inner end, means for holding the tWo body portions together for relative rotation around the axis of the body, and means for connecting electric circuit Wires to the outer ends of said electric conductors. y

Signed vat St. Louis, Missouri, this 30th day of January, 1917.

v WILFRED SCHADE. 

